Yes, it is Christmas in July! Lest the following seem premature, consider that the Wang Center has been running large ads in the Globe - and probably elsewhere - for its new Christmas show. Boston Ballet wants the public to know that Nutcracker is still around, will be in the Opera House this year, and of course hopes they will buy tickets.

From T. J. Medrek in the Boston Herald:

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Hotline: ‘Nutcracker’ tix on sale today.... the star of Boston Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” will be busy this week kicking off ticket sales for the company’s Nov. 25-Dec. 30 performances of the classic holiday ballet at the Opera House. Characters...will be at Downtown Crossing at noon today ....

‘The Nutcracker’ gets ready to bring down the House If you’re worried that Boston Ballet will never present as opulent a production of “The Nutcracker” as it did for so long at the Wang Theatre, think again. This year the difference comes down to a matter of just 10 feet..... Walt Spangler’s scenic innovations for last year’s one-season run at the Colonial Theatre were a clever compromise in tight quarters, but not compelling enough for a comeback. At the Opera House, Helen Pond and Herbert Senn’s much-loved sets return, but with new lighting design. And the dancers are thrilled to have more room for their pirouettes and flying leaps..

Boston Ballet has finally found the perfect venue for its annual production of “The Nutcracker.” Last night’s performance at the Opera House offered viewers grandeur and intimacy, a combination that just wasn’t possible at either The Wang Theatre or The Colonial.....What’s more important is how intelligently the current group of dancers performs artistic director Mikko Nissinen’s sophisticated choreography.

Boston Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ flies highThe Boston Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” may have returned to the big stage after a one-year stint at the intimate Colonial Theatre (it was evicted from its home at the Wang Center in favor of touring productions), but its choreography, by artistic director Mikko Nissinen, remains spare and crisp.

....This year Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker is in the 2500-seat Opera House (also Clear Channel), through December 30, and if, unlike Goldilocks, the production hasn’t found its new home just right, it’s still a pretty good fit.

It’s also a workable marriage between the 1978 sets by Helen Pond and Herbert Senn and the 1995 costumes by David Walker (with additions by Charles Heightchew) and the more recent choreography by company artistic director Mikko Nissinen.

Interviews with Damian Woetzel, who is guesting with Boston Ballet for two performances:

From Theodore Bale in the Boston Herald:

Quote:

It’s deja vu for Boston Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ star....Woetzel returns to Boston tonight and Dec. 21 as a guest artist with Boston Ballet to dance the Sugar Plum Pas de Deux on both nights with ballerina Lorna Feijoo. Known primarily for his long career at New York City Ballet, where he still performs, Woetzel said the opportunity to be back where his professional career began couldn’t please him more.

Dancer reaches a turning point....Tonight and Dec. 21, Woetzel, a Boston Ballet School alum, returns to his roots by dancing the role of the Nutcracker Prince in Boston Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.” Woetzel has also spent the fall at the Kennedy School. He’s studying for a master’s degree in public administration, one of the rare students accepted to the program without a bachelor’s degree.

....Woetzel began as a pupil at Boston Ballet School back in the early ‘80s, so you could say he’s completing the circle, though at 38 he’s far from finished. Long and lean, he moves with grace, elegance, authority, and finish, not to mention poetry; every step is a lesson in how ballet can communicate through the language of the human body

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